What We Do

As the official Destination Management Organisation for the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley our aims are to raise awareness, grow tourism and promote our partner businesses. We do this in a number of ways:

Marketing

• We run the consumer website www.visitdeanwye.co.uk which generates around 370,000 unique visitors per year and highlights our partners to visitors
• We generate high profile press coverage and organise press visits featuring our partners (for example see this recent National Geographic piece)
• We have active social media accounts and profile our partners on them (see our accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram)
• We run regular marketing and advertising campaigns which our partners can feature in and we provide all marketing materials to our partners for free (for example see our recent autumn Leaf Peeping campaign here)
• We send out a consumer newsletter each month with news stories and features on our partners
• We attend regular meetings on and participate in national and international Visit Britain, Visit England and Visit Wales campaigns, informing and engaging partners to ensure they are well promoted

Partner Support and Communication

• We organise regular partners' meetings which provide networking opportunities, spotlights, news and introductions and we organise inspiring speakers
• We send out a monthly partners’ newsletter which has opportunities for partner inclusion and send regular emails with up-to-date information and support
• We have a closed partners Facebook group offering partners the opportunity to introduce themselves, promote their business, network and hear our latest news
• We manage an extensive image library with high resolution images available to our partners
• We provide partners with the opportunity to advertise on our website, in our publications and in our marketing campaigns

Leadership and Business Development

• We provide strategic leadership for the tourism industry in our area
• We provide business support, networking and development opportunities for our partners
• We grow tourism to this area with our website, marketing campaigns, social media and PR coverage
• We provide free advice on raising business quality standards, business regulations, local opportunities and support
• As a team of experts we have extensive visitor and business research which our partnersbenefit from
• We provide business development workshops and training events, often subsidised
• We have regular meetings with our local councils (district and town) to share campaigns, knowledge, events and inform partners
• We run trips for our MPs and other dignitaries helping to showcase partners and the area (the photo below is Forest of Dean MP Mark Harper on a recent visit)
• We are much more than just an advertising platform and our partners can benefit from a wide range of expertise by joining us

National and International Tourism Representation 

• We represent our partner businesses and the local tourism industry at local, regional, national and international level
• We exhibit at trade shows (we exhibited at the British Tourism and Travel Show 2021) and attend many travel and tourism shows
• We attend regular Visit Britain, Visit England and Visit Wales DMO meetings
• We run familiarisation trips (the photo below shows a group from South Korea at Puzzlewood on a fam visit)
• We attend regular meetings with other DMOs in surrounding areas, sharing knowledge and experience with each other